Movie Hall of Fame-Class of 2018!

List by-Jarrett Leahy

Being Oscar night eve, it’s time again to announce the 5th annual AmateurCinephile.com Hall of Fame class of 2018. This year’s cinematic inductees include one first-ballot film (movies from 2008 became eligible for selection this year), a Best Picture Oscar nominee, three National Film Registry selections, two crime dramas, two comedies, a beloved sports fantasy, arguably the greatest silent film of all time, and a Robert De Niro film for a fifth straight year (I think that’s some kind of record!) all wrapped up into six extremely worthy candidates. If you have not seen any of these amazing films, please take the time to go seek them out, and feel free to share your thoughts…

AMATEURCINEPHILE.COM 2018 HALL OF FAME CLASS

Rachel Getting Married (2008): Rachel Getting Married is the one inductee this year being selected in its first year of eligibility. I foresee some out there questioning this film’s worthiness of 1st ballot status over a caped-crusading 2008 entry, but allow me to point out that Rachel Getting Married was listed on over twenty critics’ end-of-year Top 10 lists back in 2008, including five #1 selections. Additionally, Anne Hathaway received a Best Actress Academy Award nomination for her poignantly spellbinding performance as the recovering addict sister Kym. Directed by the late, great Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia), Rachel Getting Married deftly melds a beautiful storyline that encompasses real-life subject matter including addiction, rehab and recovery, grief, forgiveness, sister dynamics, and the blending of two families, all exquisitely presented in a wonderfully vibrant wedding setting filled with the effervescent sounds of the various musicians that make up much of the wedding party. Some may have written this film off, but ten years later, Rachel Getting Married remains the one of finest dramas of the 21st century and very much worthy of Hall of Fame inclusion.

Bringing Up Baby (1938): A single-minded paleontologist finds his bid to procure a $1 million dollar donation repeatedly thwarted by a zany woman of means and her pet leopard, Baby. Starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant (our editor’s favorite debonair heartthrob), Bringing Up Baby has overcome its initial reputation of a box office bomb (director Howard Hawks was fired from his next film at RKO after its abysmal failure) to become one of the most celebrated slapstick comedies of all-time. Selected for inclusion into the National Film Registry back in 1990, Bringing Up Baby is one of two films from the 1930’s being inducted into AmateurCinephile.com Hall of Fame this year…

City Lights (1931):…with City Lights being the other 1930’s inductee. Endearingly sweet and endlessly comical, Chaplin’s masterpiece tells the story of his cherished character, the Tramp, who has fallen for a blind, ethereal young woman who is struggling to make ends meet. Hoping to win her heart, the Tramp sets out to help with the financial difficulties that have befallen the young lady and her beloved grandmother. A 1991 National Film Registry inductee and arguably the finest work from Hollywood legend Charlie Chaplin, City Lights now holds the honor as the first silent film to be inducted into the AmateurCinephile.com Hall of Fame.

Field of Dreams (1989):“If you build it, he will come.” This iconic movie line is just one of many reasons for Field of Dreams’ entry into the Hall of Fame. The fourth film from the 1980’s to be inducted, Field of Dreams is on the short list of candidates for the title of the greatest sports film of all-time. (Just try to remain stoic at the ultimate manly tear-jerker, “Hey Dad, you wanna have a catch?”). Starring Kevin Costner, James Earl Jones, and Burt Lancaster in his final performance, Field of Dreams was Oscar nominated for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Score, as well as being chosen last year for inclusion into the National Film Registry for its status as “a culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant film.” Its induction into the AmateurCinephile.com Hall of Fame is a testament to its ability to deliver a timeless baseball fantasy that never fails to inspire reverie and wonderment.

Heat (1995): This year’s 1990’s representative becomes the third movie from the decade’s most celebrated year in film, 1995, to be inducted, joining inaugural Class of 2014 member Before Sunrise and Casino, which was part of the Class of 2015. Auteur filmmaker Michael Mann has made his fair share of great films (Collateral, Last of the Mohicans, Manhunter), but Heat is unquestionably his magnum opus. The last truly masterful film from acting legends Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, you’ll be hard pressed to find a more intense, or louder, scene than the aftermath of the bank robbery that spills out into the downtown Los Angeles streets. Heat may have been “criminally” overlooked back in 1995 by the Academy, but today this fiercely compelling crime drama is now an AmateurCinephile.com Hall of Famer.

Road to Perdition (2002): Nominated for six Academy awards including a win for Best Cinematography, Road to Perdition was the exquisitely crafted followup to director Sam Mendes’ Best Picture winner, American Beauty. Starring Tom Hanks, Daniel Craig, Jude Law, and Paul Newman in his last on-screen performance, Road to Perdition tells the story of a mafia hit man who is forced to go on the lam to protect his son after he witnesses a mob killing. Known for playing more wholesome roles, Tom Hanks adroitly embraces the enigmatic and immoral aspects of this character’s profession while still bringing a level of earnestness and compassion that helps ground his performance in reality. Now that director Sam Mendes has escaped the responsibilities of the James Bond franchise, I hope he returns to making more creative films like Road to Perdition, the final 2018 AmateurCinephile.com Hall of Famer.

So there you have it, the AmateurCinephile.com Hall of Fame Class of 2018. Make sure you come back next Oscar’s eve when six more films are chosen for inclusion.-JL

-2000’s (10):
Almost Famous, 2000(Class of 2014)Before Sunset, 2004(Class of 2014)Brokeback Mountain, 2005(Class of 2016)Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, 2004(Class of 2015)Lost in Translation, 2003(Class of 2014)No Country For Old Men, 2007(Class of 2017)Rachel Getting Married, 2008(Class of 2018)Road to Perdition, 2002(Class of 2018)Sideways, 2004(Class of 2016)There Will Be Blood, 2007(Class of 2017)